A retired trumpet player of the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra performs during the ACME Concert, a free event at the North Community YMCA, in Minneapolis. / Stacy Bengs, AP

by Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY

by Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY

The fat lady might not be singing much longer in more than a dozen states where performing arts groups are facing massive deficits, bankruptcies, strikes and layoffs.

Delaware Symphony Orchestra has cut back performance schedules. Seattle Opera expects a shortfall of $1 million for the 2011-12 season. Chicago Symphony Orchestra had a strike, and the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra locked out their musicians amid labor disputes.

Musicians say the biggest deficit will be cultural.

"When orchestras put on concerts, the entire downtown community thrives," said Bruce Ridge, chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians. "Cab drivers are at work; restaurants are full. When (orchestras) aren't supported, the community suffers."

The financial problems are part of a longstanding trend that has been exacerbated by the recent recession, says Robert J. Flanagan, economist and author of The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras: Artistic Triumphs and Economic Challenges.

"Even if you remove the effect of recessions, attendance has been declining year after year," Flanagan says. "No orchestra in the world is able to cover its expenses with the revenues it earns from ticket sales, recordings and broadcast."

The financial security of an orchestra often rests on donations, endowment and government support, but even those funds aren't covering all of the recent costs.

The Oregon Symphony has canceled its return trip to Carnegie Hall in May to save $300,000. The symphony also cut three staff positions and reduced salaries by 4% for 22 of its 33 staff members.

"Any time you have to eliminate a staff position, that's the most difficult because you are affecting somebody's life so dramatically," says Oregon Symphony CFO Janet Plummer. "Any time you have to cut back people's salaries who have already been working at 150%, you are affecting families and people. All of them hurt."

The Philadelphia Orchestra, which emerged from bankruptcy in July, will shrink from 105 musicians to 95 and cut their pay by about 15%. The group was the first major U.S. orchestra to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2011.

But pay and performance cuts are not a good solution, Ridge says.

"You can't cut your way to financial health because these groups achieve success by attracting and retaining the best musicians," Ridge says "When you cut the number of concerts you are diminishing the presence of the orchestra in your community. No business has ever fixed a financial problem by offering an inferior product."

"We had a survival goal, we absolutely were not going to close," says Anne Parsons, the orchestra's president and CEO. "It was quite painful to make some of the changes we had to make."

In an attempt to broaden their audience, the group is now turning to technology. They webcast all of their classical programming for free.

"We had more than 120,000 people watch on our webcam last year," Parsons says. "Being accessible is one of our key strategies." The organization also has an app called DSO To Go.

Some orchestras have weathered the tough times better than others. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's attendance has grown for the past two seasons. The St. Louis Symphony's ticket sales are up.

"The real solution is local," Ridge says. "The places that are succeeding are serving their community and building relationships with people who live there, children who learn there and the companies who do business there."

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